Every month, Amazon publishes a roundup on its Alexa blog highlighting all of the news from recent weeks. You might not realize it, but Amazon is constantly updating and upgrading its virtual assistant with added functionality. For example, in October, Amazon debuted new features that make it easier to move audio between Alexa-enabled devices in different rooms of your home.
Amazon details Alexa’s new features
As Amazon notes, Echo users have listened to billions of hours of music, podcasts, and radio in 2021. Unfortunately, it has never been all that easy to take whatever you’re listening to from room to room with you. At least, that was the case before last month, when Amazon added a collection of new voice commands to Alexa. Now, you’ll never have to stop listening to your favorite songs.
What if you’re in the middle of a podcast episode or halfway through a playlist, but have to rush out the door? You can now pop in your Echo Buds, connect them to your phone, and say “Alexa, move my music here,” to start listening on your earbuds. You can do the same with Echo Auto in your car. When you leave home, say “Alexa, pause” to the device playing music.
Once you reach your car, connect the phone to Echo Auto. Say “Alexa, resume music” to pick up where you left off.
More new Alexa skills
It doesn’t end there, either, as you can also move the audio between groups. If you start listening in your bedroom but want to move to the living room, say “Alexa, move my music to the living room” to make it seamlessly transition from one group to the next.
Additionally, if you want to move your audio from one specific Echo to another, just say “Alexa, pause” to the device currently playing the song or podcast and then say “Alexa, resume music/podcast/radio here” to the new device.
Here are some of the other new features that Amazon added to Alexa within the last month:
- You can ask Alexa to play “The Two-Minute Drill” for a short pregame show about any NFL team.
- “Alexa, Play Something on Netflix” will launch a movie or show you might like on Fire TV devices.
- “Alexa, open TikTok” opens the TikTok TV app, and “Alexa, play TikTok” starts playing videos
- Finally, “Alexa, what are my deals?” lets you start shopping for great deals on top brands
All these new features will surely be put to use by plenty of Echo device owners. The bad news is that Alexa occasionally loses features as well. Earlier this week, Amazon confirmed that Alexa will no longer be able to access email accounts. You may not have used this feature, but it was an easy way to check your inbox without having to open an app or pull up a browser tab.
